Quote from: kk7;993771People with money making fun of people without; them "joking" about making slaves out of other players to "improve" their quality of life; and when they're tech bros talking to black women.

I kinda think that's a bad practice, but at least up around Silicon Valley North here, it gets all passes and a lot of back-bench applause.

Don't play with assholes.

Quote from: Baulderstone;994005I like that idea, but don't you ever find those kinds of OOC meta-mechanics get in the way of immersion?

Some idiot bowling the dice into the figures and scattering them like tenpins already shoots the hell out of immersion.

Quote from: DavetheLost;989946Coming to the game completely unprepared, no paper, pencil, dice, character sheet, etc.  I now collect all the character sheets into a folder at the end of each session, just to be sure they are available for the next.

Not paying attention to the game. Never being ready when called upon for your action. "Huh? You're on intitiative 3? But I was a 6"

Bullying other players at the table, including using your character to the threaten theirs.

Explicitly detailing your power gore rape violence fantasies when noone else at teh table wants to hear them.

Constantly interupting the GM with questions that are not relevant to what is happening in the game. e.g. interupting mid-combat to ask how a special ability works for the new character you are rolling up. That is just rude to everyone else at the table.

You guys game with some real assholes.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;990100Being an asshole.

99 44/100% of all RPG problems could be cured by "don't be an asshole."

More importantly, don't play with them. In anything, not just RPGs. The guy who argues his die was "cocked" if there is so much as a sheet of paper under part of the die and demands a re-roll is every bit as much of an asshole as the putz who whines that he was interfered with every time he drops the ball.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;990107It doesn't help when the damn character sheet looks like it was written in Linear A after being transliterated from German to Mayan.  There is such a thing as "more information than can be comfortably assimilated."

This burns my ass like a 3' flame not only as a DM who has to decipher shitty handwriting, but years ago as a player, I got stuck with the job of Scribe because two players wrote illegibly and worse still, their character sheets were always a fucking mess. My penmanship has always been good because my teachers made clear that if they couldn't read your assignment, you got a zero. I only wish the DM back then had the same rule: "I can't read this equipment list? You have no equipment".

Quote from: DavetheLost;992112Roll dice behind your hand and scoop them up quickly. Occasionally "missing" a roll, just to show you're not cheating.

I remember one asshole many years ago who insisted that his all-18s wanked-out superhero with an arsenal of magic items was rolled-up honestly and should be accepted as-is by our group. Our DM's response (GTFOH) should have been enough to shame this guy. Finally, he agreed to roll up a new PC, but insisted he be allowed to roll the dice in another room. He then pitched a fit when we didn't go for it. This was a grown man in a room full of 14-15 year olds.

There was another winner who used loaded dice -high quality loaded dice that had everyone fooled until he used them a few times too often. The DM snatched the dice and used them to roll attacks from a bunch of bandits on the asshole's character. Wouldn't you know it, but they all hit, doing maximum damage (both his d20 and several d6 were loaded) and killed him. He threw a tantrum and the DM threw the dice at him and everyone (including spectators) split their sides laughing, chanting "cheater, CHEATER!"

Quote from: Elfdart;994067I remember one asshole many years ago who insisted that his all-18s wanked-out superhero with an arsenal of magic items was rolled-up honestly and should be accepted as-is by our group. Our DM's response (GTFOH) should have been enough to shame this guy. Finally, he agreed to roll up a new PC, but insisted he be allowed to roll the dice in another room. He then pitched a fit when we didn't go for it. This was a grown man in a room full of 14-15 year olds.

There was another winner who used loaded dice -high quality loaded dice that had everyone fooled until he used them a few times too often. The DM snatched the dice and used them to roll attacks from a bunch of bandits on the asshole's character. Wouldn't you know it, but they all hit, doing maximum damage (both his d20 and several d6 were loaded) and killed him. He threw a tantrum and the DM threw the dice at him and everyone (including spectators) split their sides laughing, chanting "cheater, CHEATER!"

Good grief, it's a friggin' game...I have luckily avoided players who think there are winners and losers in RPGs.

I remember we once handed a guy 4d6 to roll up a character with, 2 were trick dice, one was all "2"s and one was all "5"s. We pointed this out to him after he claimed to have rolled an "18".  He at least fessed up and was suitably contrite. Wargamers "Average" dice, numbered 2,3,3,4,4,5 can serve a similar purpose.

One worst prctice that I am glad to see a lot less of is the profusion of "save or die" and "instal-death, no save, no warning" situations that littered early games. The first generation of Tunnels & Trolls solos are full of doors that lead to certain and inescapable death if opened. Examples of play for games like Gamma World feature death by unavoidable laser if the wrong door is opened, the blinking light over the door is supposed to be sufficient warning.  I don't mind PC death, just arbitrary PC death.

Quote from: DavetheLost;994090One worst prctice that I am glad to see a lot less of is the profusion of "save or die" and "instal-death, no save, no warning" situations that littered early games. The first generation of Tunnels & Trolls solos are full of doors that lead to certain and inescapable death if opened. Examples of play for games like Gamma World feature death by unavoidable laser if the wrong door is opened, the blinking light over the door is supposed to be sufficient warning.  I don't mind PC death, just arbitrary PC death.

I agree. Even from a reasonably old school perspective, bypassing HP negates the resource management of a dungeon crawl. Having a laser trap knock you down to 3 HP when you are down on the 3rd level of a bunker is terrifying situation you now need to get out of. Or having the laser trap kill you because you were already at 3 HP when you opened the door is also engaging with the game. Having your character just die is kind of boring.

It's something we wargamers expect.  History is full of people who just were killed for no good reason.

Quote from: Baulderstone;994105I agree. Even from a reasonably old school perspective, bypassing HP negates the resource management of a dungeon crawl. Having a laser trap knock you down to 3 HP when you are down on the 3rd level of a bunker is terrifying situation you now need to get out of. Or having the laser trap kill you because you were already at 3 HP when you opened the door is also engaging with the game. Having your character just die is kind of boring.

I have to say one of my more enjoyable D&D experiences was my 6th level fighter trying to get out of the dungeon alive after he ended up on his own with only 3 hit points.

I hadn't thought of the question in that context, but I do think it's more interesting if the laser trap knocks you down to 3 HP if you were at full hit points* and kills you if you are 3HP or below** rather than simply frying you or causing a save or die roll.

* or some approximation thereof e.g. >50% hit points, more than 12 hit points, etc.

** or at some low numbered threshold.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;994109It's something we wargamers expect.  History is full of people who just were killed for no good reason.

Sure, but you can still be killed for no good reason by actually using the hit point system in D&D.

If you want to lean on realism, save vs. death is frequently used for poisons, and poisoning is rarely a case of being dead or being fine. It's usually a case of being dead or being in such bad shape that you wish you were dead. Granted HP aren't a perfect model for that either, but they are better than save vs. death.

Quote from: Baulderstone;994005I like that idea, but don't you ever find those kinds of OOC meta-mechanics get in the way of immersion?

Oh definitely, for a session or two it might.  After that, everyone's self-induced cerebral palsy corrects itself and it's life as usual only without damaged miniatures and die caltrops all over the floor.

Quote from: Black Vulmea;993641Gawdamn you, Mean Green - I laughed so hard I re-strained a sore oblique.

Now I gotta go swing a fungo for two hours - thanks a fucking bunch for that.

Ouch...but...what doesn't kill you...so, you're welcome.

Quote from: Baulderstone;994164Granted HP aren't a perfect model for that either, but they are better than save vs. death.

Better?  No.  More to your taste?  Yes.

Never LARP a sex-scene.*

*unless it's a solo campaign. (a)

(a) with yourself

Someone that uses the dreaded 'X-card'.